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Friday, April 29, 2011

Valuable Information for Anyone Invovled with a CAS

The website www.fixcas.com has a wealth of information on it which includes court document examples from real cases and much more. This site has been available for years and anyone involved with a CAS, or anyone who has children for that matter should take the time to read through the website.

Specifically I am going to include information I wish I had read on this site years ago. I will begin with a brief quote from the site, and then provide you with a link to that particular page, which is an extremely revealing history of the case the site owner (Robert T. McQuaid) and his family endured under the CAS and other authorities.

"The attitude of CAS, and research into the law, convinced me to
pursue political remedies. An exchange of letters starting with my
elected representative in the provincial parliament, David Tilson, was a
dead end. In January I found that anyone could become a member of
Children's Aid by paying three dollars, and did so. Shortly thereafter,
CAS sent us an intimidating letter, threatening to put us on the Child
Abuse Register.

From this, and other actions, I know CAS understands
that they can not intimidate me, but can scare Linda. She was
terrified, so I had to proceed slowly. As a member I requested a copy
of the bylaws, finding that CAS has 17 directors, 12 elected by the
members, and 5 appointed by local politicians. I addressed Mono Council
on this subject on March 8, 2000. As a CAS member I requested a
membership list, finding that before I joined, there were just 32
members.

The bylaws give members the right to attend board of directors
meetings, and on April 19, 2000 I did so. It was a chilling experience
- all of the atrocity planners did so with unbroken smiles. There I
learned that the annual general meeting of CAS was to be on June 20,
2000. The bylaws provided for a cutoff date of at least 30 days before
the meeting; only members as of that day are eligible to vote in the
election. In the month up to the cutoff date, still not using newspaper
publicity, I signed up as many members as possible and on on May 18,
2000 I deposited papers with CAS nominating Lillian Brewer and me as
candidates for director at the annual meeting.

From this point on, CAS
workers and David Thwaites lost their smiles in dealing with me. I sent
out proxy solicitations to the 32 original members, and got to the
meeting with three members loyal to our side, and 12 proxies. Before
the meeting Linda suggested alerting the Orangeville Banner, breaking
press silence.

The president of CAS and meeting chairman, Mark Van Horne, treated us
like adversaries in a court proceeding. We found out that CAS had
recruited 40 new members. According to Patti Lowe, a member of our team
who helped count the votes, they were mostly social workers and
policemen. The vote count appears in sequence below"....

There should be a central database of cases, and I think Roberts site is just the place. Be sure to visit him if you have a case and you would like to share your case files with him for the public to review.

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General Information

Donating to a CAS Foundation?Donating to a Children's Aid Society Foundation? Consider supporting former foster children who advocate for improvements in child welfare by e-mailing johndunn@afterfostercare.ca

Misappropriated Ministry FundsLearn more about over $2.5 Million per year in child welfare funds going toward paid lobbyists, the OACAS [link]

A Visit to the MinistryChris Carter and Families Visit Ministry of Children and Youth Services [link]

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CAS Board Meetings

Call your CAS to find out when their regular Board of Directors meetings are held and how you can attend to watch and participate. If you experience any resistance to your attendance call the Council at 613-220-1039 for support.

For example: Ottawa CASThe Ottawa CAS Board meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at the Head Office of the CAS at 1602 Telesat Court, Ottawa, ON, at 5:30pm in the Gloucester Room of the Society. (a short walk over the glass tunnel from Blair Transitway Station (away from the Mall not toward it)

Simply go into the main office of the CAS if doors are unlocked or buzz security if they are locked, then just sign in at the front desk telling Security you are there to attend the Board meeting.

When you sign in, the sheet asks who invited you, or who your contact person is, just put Barbara MacKinnon as she is the Executive Director and as head of the corporation offers an open invitation to the public to attend in accordance with their internal By-Laws. You can learn more by calling the Ottawa CAS at 613-747-7800 and ask for the Executive Office.